Iraq detains Sunnis in Baghdad to pre-empt activation of Islamic State 'sleeper cells'

Forces loyal to Nouri al-Maliki are rounding up Sunnis amid reports that jihadists in the north of the country control 2,500 sleeper cell members in and around the capital

By Ruth Sherlock, Baghdad

7:54AM BST 04 Jul 2014


Residents in Adhamiyah, one of just a handful of Sunni enclaves remaining in Baghdad after the sectarian conflict in 2005, told the Telegraph that government forces have been conducting mass - and at times random - arrests of residents.






During the allied invasion in 2003, Adhamiyah was a hotbed of anti-American sentiment, with al-Qaeda cells allowed to hide out in the area.



In Mr Maliki’s latest attempt to ward off an offensive by Islamic State, formaly the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (Isis), in the capital, security forces have been pre-emptively detaining young men who have ties with, or relatives living in Anbar and other northern Iraqi provinces now under Islamic State's control.



The government said on Thursday that it is rounding up members of Islamic State's “sleeper cells” to help safeguard the capital, and Shi’ite paramilitary groups say they are helping the authorities.



A high-level Iraqi security official estimated to Reuters that there were 1,500 sleeper cell members hibernating in western Baghdad and a further 1,000 in areas on the outskirts of the capital.



“There are so many sleeper cells in Baghdad,” the official said. “They will seize an area and won’t let anyone take it back... In western Baghdad, they are ready and prepared.”



But residents of Adhamiyah, in western Baghdad, accused the Iraqi government of using sectarian Shia militias to conduct brutal, sweeping and often random arrests of young Sunni men.



One professor at the Iraqi University, who asked for his name not to be published our of fears for his safety, located in the district, said that “at least ten” Sunni men are being taken every day by forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.



Another resident of Adhamiyah told the Telegraph that two days ago, security forces arrested 25 Sunni men in one mass raid.



“They arrived at sunset just as everyone was having iftar [the first meal of the day during the holy month of Ramadan],” said the resident, who was afraid of himself being arrested if he gave his name. “They broke into homes and demanded to see identity cards.”



“They took away men who had relatives living in areas controlled by Isis, or whose tribal affiliation is aligned with Isis.”



The residents of Adhamiyah see the security forces conducting the raids less like a national security force, than as a sectarian militia following the orders of a Shia majority government.



Some of the men were released shortly after they were arrested. Others have been sent to jail without trial.



Others still have “been killed on the spot”, the resident said. “The families found their bodies. They were left on the road; one bullet to the head.”

The resident declined to take the Telegraph to meet the families of the dead: “If I take you to them, and the Maliki militia see me with foreigners, it’ll be me who has a bullet in the head.”



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